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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Very sharp lens

Cons:

Distortion at tele-end

An extremely portable all-in-one FX travel lens with very good optical performance across the whole zoom range. It always delivers excellent center and border sharpness even wide open (the performance at wide-end is better than the tele-end). Extreme border sharpness can be improved by stopping down 1 to 2 f-stops.

The lack of VR and AF-S is expected. But then it would be more durable and long lasting. So far, the major drawback is the distortion at the tele-end. Though it can be fixed during RAW file conversion (I only shoot RAW).

One score was deducted for the sake of distortion at the tele-end. All in all, it's a real SP level zoom. This is my D700 kit lens!

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $298.00| Rating: 8

Pros:

better image quality than Canon's 28-135mm IS USM

Cons:

laborious zoom ring

This is the lowest priced zoom lens in its class and the IQ is much better than the Canon 28-135mm, which i had used before. As you zoom in to 100mm and greater focal length, the image quality diminishes a bit, but if you drop it to f/7.1 (the sweet spot for this lens) the images will still be crisp. At 135mm, the AF can be a little slow. Also the zoom ring is very stiff and laborious to turn compared to Canon lenses. Overall, I am happy with this lens for a 'walk around' lens. I've been using this in on my Canon T2i and am very happy with it. Unfortunately, this lens is discontinued and you will have to purchase this used.

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $160.00| Rating: 7

Pros:

Nice and sharp at 24 to about 60mm; solid build

Cons:

Very large and bulky; unimpressive at 135mm

I owned one of these for a few months at the beginning of 2009, after reading a favourable review at Photozone.de. I went on holiday to Morocco and needed a "do-everything" lens for my Canon 5D, and this seemed a good choice. On a full-frame camera the focal range is almost exactly the same as the modern, Canon 15-85mm EF-S. Unlike the newer lens it does not have image stabilisation. The lens is only available on the used market and cost me round £120.

It's an older design that dates from 2000 - it was released as part of Tamron's 50th birthday celebrations and as far as I can tell every one has a special "50th Birthday" logo on the lens cap. I used it mostly at 24mm, and it was very sharp in the middle at f/8. Towards the corners, the outer 15% or so were soft and the very extreme 5% was muddy and had very noticeable vignetting. There was also noticeable barrel distortion, although correcting this had the positive effect of cropping off the muddy corners.

Up until about 60mm it remained good but suffered from obvious pincushion beyond that. F6.3 at 135mm was unimpressive around the edges but still decent in the middle. Zoom lenses that start at 24mm are fairly rare and I suspect Tamron wanted to beat the range of Canon's 28-135mm. This is a shame, because if Tamron's lens was restricted to 24-105mm (say) and optimised for those focal lengths it would deserve a few more stars.

On a physical level it felt well-made, and my sample was thankfully free of dust. It had a turn-zoom design. Mechanically, the focus mechanism whined a lot but focused accurately. Unfortunately the focus ring is coupled to the autofocus motor and rotates as the lens focuses, which means that unless you hold the lens daintily by the zoom ring only, the focus ring will catch your hand. And because the focus ring is covered with grippy, ribbed rubber, it'll hurt!

It's a girthsome lens that extends as you zoom in. Ultimately I got fed up with the bulk, and because I used it at 24mm most of the time I sold the lens and opted for a 24mm prime. It's often compared with the Canon 28-135mm, which is slightly less wide, apparently not quite as sharp, but has image stabilisation.

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp & well built.

Cons:

A bit slow. But if made faster, it would cost MUCH more.

I hesitated for some time, before pulling the trigger on this purchase. My mistake. I promptly burned two rolls of fine grained film with it, and the results are VERY good. Upon glassing the negs, (10x loupe on light table) I found the negs to be very sharp and defined. Great color & contrast. I used it on the F100 body, and had no issues with focusing. Quite fast. It's not too heavy or awkward. It very well, will probably become my "go to" auto-focus lens. It's much better than both versions of the Nikon 24-120 lenses.

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 8

Pros:

Very sharp at short focal lengths

Cons:

Not as sharp at long focal lengths, ugly bokeh

At short focal lengths, up to 70-80mm, this lens is very sharp even wide open. Longer than that, it loses detail, particularly at infinity focus. Build quality is good though, and the focal range is very useful even on a crop sensor camera.

Not a good lens for portraits, since the bokeh is ugly and takes attention away from the subject.

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $350.00| Rating: 8

Pros:

Sharp

Cons:

This lens provides a very useful focal length range, although the 24 mm wide end is sometimes not quite wide enough on a 1.6-crop camera. The lens is surprisingly sharp, losing only a little bit at the long end, and the build quality is probably the best among all the Tamron lenses.

mbuf

Registered: December 2006Posts: 7

Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 AD Aspherical IF Macro SP AF review by mbuf

Review Date: 12/28/2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

image quality,built quality

Cons:

heavy

I had the chance to test this lens on my 300D camera. The construction was better that any previous lens and the image quality also was very good.
The range recommend this lens as general lens, for landscapes, portraits. It also does some macro, very god for flowers and small objects, but it is not 1:1 life size.
What I miss is the IS, so handheld could be a problem especially in low light, but on a tripod it is always excelent.

If you are looking for the perfect walk around lens and the new 24-105L lens is out of your price range, then this is your best bet. I've had this lens for 2 years and the all metal body gives it that sold L feel and durability. The lack of IS maybe a drawback, but the optics are above the Canon 24-135IS at half the price. AF speed is average, not available in HSM/USM.